The Dutch company that offers bird protection solutions for solar installations is expanding its range with a trio of launches – with high hopes that its business can take off on commercial rooftops.
Netherlands-based BirdBlocker has added three new lines to its range of bird protection products for solar installations, including a new brand for cable management. All three new additions were on display at the Intersolar exhibition at Smarter E Europe, Munich.
CableFixPro is a new range of clips that BirdBlocker says can be installed without tools and is compatible with traditional and box frame solar panels. Each clip is made from NS-coated stainless steel spring wire, holds two 6 – 8mm cables, has a 10-year warranty and is sold in retail quantities of 100 clips per pack and wholesale quantities of 50 packs per case. CableFixPro clips are compatible with the full BirdBlocker range and meet European IEC standards and British standards for safety and performance.
Paul van der Ven, co-owner of BirdBlocker, said solar panel manufacturers have come to prefer box-design frames on the short side of their panels, meaning existing cable clips that clamp to the edge have become incompatible – which is a creates an opportunity on the market. “Our catalog of measured frames from 2023 shows that 63% of the frames have a box design on the short side,” says Van der Ven, adding that the company measured solar panels from 113 brands in 2023.
“We have created a system with three types of clips, resulting in a cable management system that is both universally compatible with all panel frame designs, and also compatible with BirdBlocker bird protection systems,” he told pv magazine.
BirdBlocker also previewed the latest version of its bird protection solution at Intersolar: BirdBlocker BB85. Designed to prevent birds from nesting under solar panels, BirdBlocker is a plastic skirt that is installed around PV modules. With the launch of BirdBlocker BB85, scheduled for September 2024, the brand will introduce a redesigned 85mm high variant that improves compatibility with metal, corrugated and trapezoidal roofs, steel decks and low-mounted systems. Each variant in the BirdBlocker range is made from black UV-resistant recyclable HDPE plastic, which the company also claims is cold and heat resistant.
Previously, BirdBlocker’s 200mm product was used on metal, corrugated sheet and trapezoidal roofs “with a lot of effort and waste material,” says van der Ven. The co-owner of BirdBlocker thinks that this new version should open doors in the C&I segment. “Given that this type of roofing is often used in both industry and agriculture, problems such as hygiene (feces, mold, mites, ticks, bacteria and even viruses such as bird flu) are avoided by keeping birds at bay,” said he. According to van der Ven, bird nests can also pose a fire hazard if found under PV modules, providing even more ingenuity to invest in protection.
As for pricing, BirdBlocker said costs are largely dependent on the layout of the installation, but the company said that if an installer were to use BirdBlocker on a residential installation, it would likely add “a few hundred euros” to the costs for the consumer. Retrofitting is normally more expensive for consumers because it requires another visit by an installer to remove and reinstall the panels.
BirdBlocker has also made an aesthetic change to its clip range with the launch of black box design clips. The clips are 30mm high and 14-18mm wide and are designed to fit securely on the BirdBlocker system.
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